Communagir

Supported by the
Foundation since 2012

The Foundation firmly believes in local community
mobilization, and has made it one of the linchpins of its
strategy to achieve its mission.

It believes that the individuals-organizations, institutions,
practitioners, families and parents-who are present in the daily
lives of children and young people are in the best position to
develop new solutions and establish them firmly in the
community.

Mobilizing local communities is a strategy for change that
actively encourages community development and
strengthens their ability to take action. It
requires actors from all sectors (community,
public, private, elected and citizens) to rally around a cause that
can be quite broad (social development of the community, integrated
territorial development, etc.) or very focused (early childhood
development, fight against poverty, etc.).

The complex nature of major development issues (be they
economic, social or environmental) demands a global perspective and
the ability to set up solutions that are innovative, effective and
sustainable.

For this reason, the Foundation has decided to offer its support
to Communagir, whose mission is to
help Quebec communities develop their capacity to bring
about the changes they believe to be necessary for their collective
development.

Communagir offers:

specialized, customized skills development
services designed with and for individuals and groups who want to
ensure the success of a development initiative in their
community

To date, some 40 communities throughout Quebec have obtained
training and support from Communagir. From a broader
perspective, 80 communities, groups, organizations and individuals
have benefited from an assessment of their needs, referral services
and general advice.

The example of Haute-Gaspésie

The past 40 years have seen the spiralling decline of the Quebec
regional county municipality (RCM) of Haute-Gaspésie:
significant decrease in population, growing poverty, low levels of
education, etc. When partners in the area decided to band together
in order to take charge of revitalizing their territory, they
called on Communagir for support. The organization
supplied professional coaching, facilitated orientation days, and
provided the services of a steering committee to head up an
integrated social development effort. Thanks to
Communagir, the people involved in the project obtained
the tools they needed to work toward improving the quality of life
in their area. The decisive experience of Haute-Gaspésie
has been the inspiration for other RCMs in the same region who are
interested in launching similar initiatives.

Feedback on services provided by Communagir:

"You clearly demonstrated us the
approach's potential to take us beyond the 'good idea on paper'
stage. Thanks!"

"This way of working enabled
partners to identify their common objectives and strategies in
order to extract the vision of a concerted group action."